Columbus City (part 1 of 2)

Columbus City

for the appointment of a receiver of the Eastern Division of the road, which was granted a few days after, and the same receiver was appointed. As such receiver Col. Crocker took possession of the entire road at the close of business, June 11, 1860, and operated it till June 12, 1863, when, on an order of the court, he surrendered possession of the Western Division, from Portage to La Crosse, to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, as purchaser. By another order, he surrendered the Eastern Division to the same company, to operate under him as receiver. Col. Crocker continued to act as receiver of the Eastern Division till January 9, 1866, when he surrendered that road to the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company. That company continued to operate it till March 6, 1867, when they surrendered it to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, under a decree rendered on the so-called Cleveland judgment, in the Circuit Court of the United States.

The history of the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company is thus described : On the 21st day of June, 1858, what was called the Albany board of the La Crosse Company, made a mortgage to William Barries, of Albany, commonly known as the third mortgage, as security for $2,000,000 of boods which they proposed to issue. Of this sum in bonds, $550,000 were set apart for delivery, and were delivered to Stoddard Judd, as trustee, to take up farm mortgages, but were never used for that purpose. About $150,000 in bonds were used in paying the company's debts. Over $700,000 were hypothecated for the sum of $35,000 in cash, and were suffered to be sold at 5 cents on the dollar, and were bought in by some of the Directors, and by certain other Eastern parties acting in concert with them. These bonds bore interest from July 1, 1858. Default was made in the payment of interest January 1, 1859, and proceedings were at once begun to foreclose the mortgage, the trustees claiming that all the bonds had been disposed of. No suit for the foreclosure was prosecuted, but a sale was had under the power in the mortgage, and the property was bid off for the bondholders by the trustees, William Barnes, May 21, 1859. Immediately thereafter, he, with persons claiming to hold $1,400,000 of the bonds, formed articles of association as the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company. By the articles of association, Russell Sage, of New York ; Ludlow A. Battershall, of Troy, N. Y. ; William Gould, of Albany, N. Y. ; William B. Gilbert, of Syracuse, N. Y. ; Hans Crocker, Norman J. Emmons and Lemuel W. Weeks, of Milwaukee ; William R. Sill, of La Crosse ; and William E. Smith, of Fox Lake ; were named as Directors. This organization never had control of the road, and was a mere paper organization. Some time in 1862, a new board of directors was elected, and in 1866, they obtained possession of the road, holding it until March 9, 1867, as before described.

In 1863, Isaac Seymour, N. A. Cowdrey, Horace Galpen, David H. Hughes, William Gould, Frederick P. James and George Smith, all of New York, and Asahel Finch and William H. White, both of Milwaukee, associated themselves under articles of agreement, dated May 5, of that year, as the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. They had purchased, at mortgage sale, the Western Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, being that portion of the lines between Poi'tage and La Crosse, and in their articles of agreement stipulated that they might purchase the Milwaukee & Western Railroad, commonly called the Watertown road, running from Milwaukee to Columbus, with a branch to Sun Prairie ; the Milwaukee & Horicon road, running from Horicon to Berlin, and the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milw^^iikee road, when practicable ; and these purchases were subsequently perfected. Other persons afterward became associated with them, and the company operated, under orders of the United States Court, the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee road, accounting to the court for its use. The lines owned by the company, under the purchases made by them, were as follows : From Milwaukee to Columbus, via Watertown, 78 miles ; from Portage to La Crosse, 98 miles ; from Watertown to Sun Prairie, 26 miles ; from Horicon to Berlin, 49 miles ; from Ripon to Omro, 10 miles. In order to own a through line from Milwaukee to La Crosse, the company constructed 28 miles of track, from Columbus to Portage, which was completed in September, 1864, when the through line was open to travel. All through trains previous to that time had I'un over the Eastern Division of the La Crosse road. The cost of the lines of road and entire property purchased by the company, of which they entered into the possession June 13, 1863, was $8,144,138, for 261 miles of road, or $31,203 per mile.

In 1864, Russell Sage was elected President of the company in place of D. M. Hughes, and filled that office till July 1, 1865, when he was succeeded by Alexander Mitchell. During the balance of the year 1863, after the formation of the St. Paul Company, and during 1864, its organization was perfected, and the difi"erent interests represented by the capitalists composing the corporation were harmonized and consolidated.

During the year 1865, the struggle over the possession of the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad continued between the Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Milwaukee & Minnesota Companies. There was a vigorous but unsuccessful effort made in the Legislature of that year to procure legislation which would authorize the latter company to run through trains between Milwaukee and La Crosse over the track of the former company, west of Portage; and the failure of this project still further impaired the resources of the weaker company.

In April, 1856, a pooling arrangement was made between the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company and the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Company. This experiment proved successful, and led to a still closer relation between the two companies, and a majority of the stock of the Prairie du Chien Company was transferred to the St. Paul Company's trustees. As a result, the Directors of the Prairie du Chien Company, elected in that year, were fully identified in interest with the St. Paul Company, and negotiations progressed favorably for a complete union of the two companies by the absorption of the property of the Prairie du Chien line in the St. Paul corporation. In fact, the arrangement progressed so far during the year that at its close, the reports of the two roads were consolidated so far as the miles of road in operation, and the total cost, indebtedness, revenues and expenses of the two companies were concerned. During this year, the litigation over the possession of the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee road proceeded, but it was not completed, though close approaches were made to the right of possession in the St. Paul Company. The earnings of the company for 1866 were $2,538,- 799.96. The expenses were $1,604,696.49.

On the 1st of January, 1872, the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company formally effected the purchase of the Chicago & St. Paul Railroad, running 138 miles, from St. Paul to Winona and La Crescent, opposite to La Crosse. The purchase was made by giving the bonds of the St. Paul Company for £800,000, or about $4,000,000 in gold, payable in London in A. D. 1902, at 7 per cent. The line of the road between Milwaukee and Chicago, eighty-five miles, was also completed in the fall of 1872, but its formal transfer to the St. Paul Company was not efiected till the following year. This completed the route between Chicago and St. Paul, a distance of 410 miles.

In 1873, the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry became numerous and powerful in Wisconsin, and they cultivated a popular sentiment unfriendly to the existing system of railroad management. The wheat crop of the Northwest was enormously productive, and the price ruled high. The railroad companies, not satisfied with the large profits they had been making, crop or no crop, advanced the rates of freight on all their lines. This step led to increased hostility from the Grange organizations.

The Legislature of Wisconsin, which met in January, 1874, enacted the law limiting the rates to be charged by railroad companies for transporting passengers and freight, and also providing for the appointment of a board of railroad commissioners. George H. Paul, John W. Hoyt and Joseph H. Osboi'n were appointed such commissioners, and the " Potter law," as the act in question was called, went into effect May 1. The railroad companies, regarding the law as unconstitutional, refused to acquiesce in the reduction of charges which the law established, and the State authorities enforced the requirements of the law by legal proceedings, resulting in final judgment in the Supreme Court, affirming the paramount control of the Legislature over all corporations created by law. This judgment became operative on the railroad companies October 1, 1874, and their subsequent charges conformed to the prices fixed by law. During this year, and the course of this litigation, public feeling ran high, and intense hostility existed in many localities of the State on the part of the people against the railroad companies. By an

The Legislature of 1876 repealed the '"Potter law " and enacted in its stead a law establishing maximum prices for freights. By the terms of this law the maximum prices established were the rates fixed by the St. Paul Company in its schedule of freights, adopted in June, 1872.

The Columbus ^ Portage Line. - The Milwaukee & Watertown Railroad was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, approved March 11, 1851, and Edward D. Holton, Alexander Mitchell, Eliphalet Cramer, James Kneeland, Daniel Wells, Jr., Hans Crocker, John H. Tweedy, George H. Walker, Byron Kilbourn, Daniel H. Chandler, John W. Medberry, all of Milwaukee County, William M. Dennis, Daniel Jones, Benjamin F. Fay, Luther A. Cole, Simeon Ford, Peter Rogan, Peter V. Brown and Edward Oilman, of Jefferson County, were appointed Commissioners to form the company. This charter authorized the company to build a railroad from some point in the city of Milwaukee, or on the line of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad in the county of Waukesha, to Watertown. By subsequent amendments, the company was authorized to extend its line to Columbus. A preliminary survey of the line of the road between Milwaukee and Watertown was made in the same month, and was extended to Fort Winnebago in the March following, and the construction of the road at Brookfield Junction, thirteen miles from Milwaukee, was commenced. In 1851, the line was opened for traffic to Oconomowoc, and on the 1st day of October, 1855, the road was completed to Watertown. In the winter of 185G-57, the line reached Columbus. About this time. Congress donated to the State of Wisconsin an extensive land grant to aid in the construction of railroads, and one line of road provided for in the grant was to extend from Madison or Columbus to Portage City, and thence to Lake St. Croix, from there to the head of Lake Superior and to Bayfield. The Milwaukee & Watertown Company, though owning but a short line of road pointing in the direction of the prescribed land-grant route, was, as will be seen, under the management of an association of the ablest business men in the State, and entered into vigorous competition with the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company as an applicant for the grant. A special session of the Legislature was held, commencing September 3, 1856, for the purpose of disposing of this grant. The struggle between the rival roads was animated, until September 20, when the antagonistic interests were compromised by the consolidation of Milwaukee & Watertown Company with the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company. The line in question is now a part of the great system under the control of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company.

The Madison ;)'- Portage Line. - In 1856-57, the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company partly graded a track for a railroad between Madison and Portage, as a part of its land-grant line, but with the collapse of that company the work was abandoned. In 1860, a new company was formed, which procured the right of way and grade of the old company. Principally through the efforts of James Campbell and R. B. Sanderson, the track was completed and the road opened January 8, 1871, a large delegation of Portage citizens going to Madison by invitation on the first passenger train over the line. It was for a time operated by the St. Paul Company under a lease, and, in 1878, that company secured the ownership of the road, which now forms a part of its general lines.

Chicago tf- North western. - A stretch of about seven and a half miles of this road passes through Columbia County. In 1870, the Baraboo Air Line Railroad Company was incorporated with authority to build a railroad from Columbus, AVatertown, Madison, or any point intermediate, via the village of Lodi, Baraboo, Abelman's Mills and Reedsburg, to Tomah, La Crosse, or any point on the Mississippi River above La Crosse. In 1871, the Baraboo Air Line Company was consolidated with the Beloit and Madison Company, and both were then consolidated with the Northwestern Company, and the construction of the road northwest of Madison, or the Madison Extension, as it was called, was rapidly pushed forward toward AVinona Junction, a distance of 129 miles. Aid was voted to the Air Line road previous to the consolidation, and was paid to aid its construction as follows: City of Madison, $25,000 cash ; Lodi, $25,000 bonds and $15,000 cash;

West Point, $5,000 ; Baraboo, $70,000 bonds ; Excelsior, $12,500 ; Freedom, $7,500; Greenfield. $5,000 ; Reedsburg, $25,000 ; Winfield, $5,000 ; Sparta, $63,000 ; RidgeviUe, $2,500. In this year the line was opened to Lodi ; in 1872, to Reedsburg ; in 1873 it was completed to Elroy, and through trains from Chicago ran to St. Paul over the Northwestern and West Wisconsin Roads. In 1874, this line was completed to Winona Junction, and the whole is now operated as the Madison Division.

The Wisconsin Central. - By Chapter 80, Laws of Congress of 1864, there was granted to the State of Wisconsin every alternate section of public land, designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each mile of said road, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Portage City, Berlin, Doty's Island, or Fond du Lac, as the State by its Legislature might determine, to Bayfield, thence to Superior. By joint resolution of the Legislature of the State, approved March 20, 1865, the grant was accepted " and the State of Wisconsin hereby consents to execute the said trust created, by the aforesaid act of Congress, pursuant in all things to the terms, limitations and conditions of said act." The Legislature of that year failed to agree upon a bill for the disposition of the land grant. The contest over it was renewed the next winter, and after a protracted struggle between the contesting interests, the grant was disposed of by fixing the city of Portage as the point of commencement and conferring the grant upon the Portage & Superior Company, with a joint ownership in it to the Winnebago & Lake Superior Company from Stevens Point to the lake. It was also provided that the road should be built via Ripon, provided Congress should give its assent to the change of route, which was given by joint resolution of Congress, adopted June 21, 1866. The first Directors of the Portage & Superior Company, were C. C. Washburn, John P. McGregor, George Esterly, E. W. Keyes, J. H. Rountree, W. W. Reed, H. S. Winsor, T. C. Pound, W. W. Corning, H. L. Palmer, John Nazro, E. H. Galloway, H. G. Webb, S. 0. Raymond, W. H. Doe, Asaph Whittlesey and H. P. Strong. Mr. Washburn declining to accept a directorship, C. H. Upham succeeded him in the board. The board was organized at Portage, June 5, 1866, by the election of John P. McGregor, as President; H. L. Palmer, Vice President ; Henry B. Munn, Secretary, and John Nazro, Treasurer. Mr. Munn shortly after resigned the secretaryship, and A. J. Turner was elected to succeed him. At this meeting of the board, a formal acceptance of the grant was made by a resolution presented by H. L. Palmer, in the following language :

Resolved, That the Portage & .Superior Railroad Company accepts the trust lands granted for railroad purposes, conferred upon and granted to the said company by an act of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, approved April 9, 1866, * * * upon the terms and conditions prescribed in said act of the Legislature, and in the said act of Congress ; and that the President and Secretary of the company are hereby directed to file a notice of such acceptance in the name of the company in the ofBce of the Secretary of State.

The first directory of the Winnebago & Superior Company was organized about the same time the organization of the Portage & Superior Company was made. It being at a time when railroad projects in this State were at a standstill, hut little progress was made toward active work. Finding it inconvenient to operate separately, the two companies were consolidated as authorized by act of the Legislature, Chapter 257, Laws of 1869, under the name of the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Railroad Company, and an organization of the two companies was effected at Oshkosh June 2, 1869, with George Reed as President; John P. McGregor, Vice President; Julius S. Buck, Secretary; Henry Hewitt, Treasurer; S. W. Budlong, Chief Engineer. On the 15th day of June, 1869, the first stake for the line of the road was set at Portage, and a preliminary line was run through to Lake Superior, and the lands granted to the company were withdrawn from the market. Through the active efforts of Hon. George Reed, the President of the consolidated company. Eastern capitalists were enlisted in the enterprise, with Gardner Colby, of Boston, at the head, and sufficient local aid was secured to induce the company to put a portion of the line under contract, commencing at Menasha in June, 1871, reaching Stevens Point in November of the same year. In 1871, the name of the company was changed to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. In the early stages of the organization of this company, the Winnebago & Superior Company was also consolidated with the Manitowoc

& Minnesota Company, the last-named company having been empowered to build a road from Manitowoc on Lake Michigan, west through Menasha and Stevens Point to the Mississippi River, but the road had not been constructed. Its chartered rights, however, passed by consolidation into the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Company.

In 1870, the Portage, Stevens Point & Superior Railroad Company was incorporated, with W. W. Corning, S. A. Pease, A. J. Turner, Robert Cochran, G. L. Park, J. 0. Raymond, Seth Reeves, George A. Neeves and Joseph Wood as Directors, with the purpose of building a road on a direct line from Portage to Stevens Point, to connect with the land-grant road. On the 3d of December, of the same year, at Montello, the company was consolidated with the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Company, and its line was adopted as the line of the land-grant road. The Legislature of 1876 gave its consent to the change of route, which was ratified by act of Congress in the same year.

The Wisconsin Central commenced to build its road from Menasha west, in the spring of 1871, and in spite of almost insurmountable obstacles, and during a time of severe panics in the money markets, it pressed the work of construction forward and laid its last rail in June, 1877, having constructed 330 miles of railroad, all in the State of Wisconsin. The cost of this road in cash was about $9,000,000. It has had so far a hard struggle to pay its expenses and the interest on its coupons, which were funded in July, 1875.

Dark Deeds

"State of Wisconsin vs. Edward Leahey." The defendant in this suit was an ex-Catholic priest, who married, emigrated from Ireland, and settled in the town of Scott, in the year 1850. He was a very passionate man, and exceedingly jealous of his wife. Bernard Mauley was a near neighbor, and, on his return from a lecturing tour, Leahey had him arrested on a charge of seducing his wife. An examination of Mauley was had before a Justice, in the village of Pardeeville, on the 6th day of August, 1852, when he was acquitted. On leaving the court room, he was shot and instantly killed by Leahey, who was promptly arrested, committed to jail, and an indictment found against him by the grand jury, September 30, 1852. A continuance was granted at the September term of court, his trial taking place at the April term, 1853, the jury finding him guilty of murder in the first degree. Sentence was not passed upon him until the 7th day of October, 1853, when he was sentenced by Judge Charles H. Larrabee to the penitentiary for life, with twenty days' solitary confinement. On the 6th day of July, 1860, he was pardoned and restored to citizenship by Gov. Alexander W. Randall.

John Baptist Dubay came to Portage at an early day, and for some time traded vith the Indians, the American Fur Company furnishing him with goods, but he finally moved up the Wisconsin, at a trading-post above Stevens Point. When the canal at Portage was made, Nelson McNeil leased from the State the water power and built a mill, and, when the military reserve (on which Fort Winnebago was built), was sold out, about thirty acres were reserved by the Government to go with the water-power to the State, or rather to the Fox River Company, as the State had turned over the improvement to them. Dubay was made to believe he had a claim there, having lived on the same land. The fur company had, through their agents, lived upon it for several years, and some men standing high in the State contended that Dubay had a claim upon the land, and tried hard to get Congress and, it is believed, the Legislature to recognize it, which appeared strange to those who knew there was not any legitimate claim there, for the fur company could not preempt. McNeil sold out his mill and lease to Reynolds & Craigh, and they went to putting up a house for the millers. Dubay had a small house on the land not far from where they commenced building. They had had the studding put up and a part of the roof boards on, when Dubay went over there and took an ax and chopped it down. Afterward, Reynolds went over to look at it, and as he passed the house some words passed between them, when Dubay went into his house and got his gun and shot, killing Reynolds immediately. This tragical event took place August 15, 1857.

" I was standing in the street in front of my house," says Henry Merrell, " perhaps half a mile from the mill, when McNeil came past, his horse on a run ; as he passed me he said, ' Dubay has shot Reynolds.' I immediately went down to the mill, and found several men there watching the house, but none dared go near it. I inquired if any one was watching to see if he escaped into the woods, and was informed there was. Soon a wagon drove up, filled with men, who jumped out, and called for a rope; while they were going into the mill, Sheriff Edward F. Lewis drove up in a buggy, and crossed over the other side of the canal to the house and hur-. ried Dubay into the buggy and drove up the north bank of the canal. When the men saw that move, they jumped into the wagon and drove back the way they came. I, knowing Lewis could not get over on that bank, concluded the men would catch him ; but Lewis drove as far as he could, and left the buggy and horse, and hurried Dubay on foot, getting to the jail before the men got around, as they had some distance farther to go to get the wagon through. Quite a crowd assembled, determined to lynch Dubay; but Lewis foiled them. One man by the name of Mason cried, ' Come on, boys,' but as he made a rush for the door, Lewis stood there with a pair of iron shackles in his hand, and, as Mason rushed at him, he hit him over the head, knocking him down. So no others backed him up, and the mob dispersed. The wildest excitement ensued. An attempt was made to lynch the murderer ; but Sheriff Lewis, by diligent effort, secured him as a prisoner, and took him to Madison, where he was tried twice, the jury not agreeing. So he was discharged."

On the afternoon of the 16th of September, 1869, the city of Portage witnessed a revolting double tragedy - the shooting of Barney Britt, on one of the most public thoroughfares, by William H. Spain, and the subsequent lynching of the murderer by a mob within a stone's throw of the spot where Britt fell. Both Britt and Spain were Irishmen, and former members of Company D, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteers, Spain succeeding to the captaincy of the company on the promotion of Col. Vaughan, Britt being a private. During their service, bitter feelings were engendered between them, and they scarcely ever met without some hard words ensuing. On the day of the tragedy, Britt, who lived in the town of Fort Winnebago, came to the city, and, meeting Spain, the old feud was revived. During the afternoon, Spain went to his house, and jirocured a loaded revolver; upon his return, he perceived Britt following after him. He stopped and informed Britt that he must not follow him. Britt replied that he was not following him, but was going about his business. Spain repeated his admonition, and was replied to as before, whereupon he raised his weapon, and, muttering an oath, fired, shooting Britt through the heart, killing him instantly. The shooting was witnessed by a large number of people, and the news, spreading rapidly, created an excitement and consternation. The cry of " Hang him I " " Hang him ! " was soon raised, and Spain started for Justice Haskell's office, with the intention of surrendering himself. He was overtaken at the head of the stairs by Marshal Hickey and Deputy Sheriff Pool, who arrested him, and started for the jail. When near Heartel's saloon they were met by a crowd of excited people, who violently took the prisoner from them, and, forcing him into the express office, detailed a posse to guard the door. In a few moments, surging crowds of people came, seemingly, from every quarter. The door of the express office was forced open, a rojie thrown about Spain's neck, and, within a few minutes, he had been dragged through the street and hanged to the limb of a tree. Spain's body, having been cut down by Sheriff Pool soon afterward, was removed to the home of his brother's in the town of Fort Winnebago. Spain was at one time Register of Deeds in Adams County, but for six months previous to the tragedy, he had practiced law in Columbia County. Britt left a wife and eight children. Spain was also a man of fiimily, having a wife and four children.

About 1 o'clock of the morning of Saturday, September 18, not quite two days after the shooting of Britt, and the lynching of Spain, Pat Wildrick, a notorious desperado, was taken from the Columbia County Jail and hanged to a tree near by. This was done by a mob of unknown men, who came into the city during the night. Wildrick was probably one of the worst men that ever trod upon Wisconsin soil. He had served two years at Waupun for highway robbery, and soon after his release, Schuyler S. Gates, who, with his wife and household goods, was moving down the AVisconsin River from Kilbourn City on two boats lashed together, was robbed, while encamped on the bank of the river at night, of about |2,400, Mrs. Gates being outraged by one of the robbers, whom the people had every reason to believe was none other than Pat. Wildrick. At any rate, Wildrick was arrested and lodged in jail, being taken to Sauk County, where he was indicted, and, having his case continued, he broke jail, but was recaptured. Pending his trial, which was set for October 9, Wildrick was released on bail. He then came to Portage, where, almost immediately afterward, he was caught in the act of perpetrating a highway robbery. During his examination for this latter offense, Mr. Gates was murdered near Kilbourn City, and it was generally believed Wildrick's accomplices in the robbery were the perpetrators of the deed, as Gates would have been an important witness in the case.

The lynching of Wildrick was conducted shrewdly. Two men, with a third one between them, went to the jail and knocked upon the door. Deputy Koerner, upon answering the knock, was informed by one of the outsiders that they were officers in charge of a criminal whom they wished to lock up. The door was opened and they were admitted, whereupon Koerner was seized and others of the party immediately entered the jail. Sheriff Sorrenson, coming upon the scene, was also secured, his hands being tied behind him and a handkerchief being placed over his mouth. The key to Wildrick's cell was then taken from Koerner's pocket. What followed need not be repeated, but Wildrick's dead body was found hanging to a tree the next morning.

In December the grand jury returned indictments against eleven of the supposed lynchers, but it was subsequently shown that one-third of the members of that jury were disqualified on account of being aliens. It also appeared that one of the eleven men indicted was many miles away when the tragedy was enacted. The whole matter was finally dropped.

" State of Wisconsin vs. John Maloney." On the 4th day of August, 1875, John Maloney, of Doylestown, shot and killed his wife, for which crime he was arrested, and on the 18th day of December, of the same year was tried, convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to the State prison for life.

Abstract Office

Absolutely certain knowledge in regard to the title of land is important to every owner or prospective owner of a home or of any parcel of real estate. In this country, the records of conveyance in the office of Register of Deeds govern as to the ownership of real property, and every transfer or mortgage is supposed to be recorded therein. There are, however, other facts which may be of consequence as affecting the condition of title, which the law does not require to be registered in that office. Moreover, it is a frequently a tedious and difficult task to obtain at the Register's office the statement of a long chain of title. For these and other reasons, abstract offices, as they are called, have been established throughout the country. They contain a complete and perfect history, so far as it is possible to obtain it, of every piece of land in the counties where they are located, so arranged as to be accessible with the least possible delay or difficulty.

The abstract office for Columbia County is regarded as one of the most perfect in Wisconsin. It was started by A. B. Alden, who issued his first abstract in 1859. He recorded 58,320 conveyances, No. 1 of which, was, of course, the first conveyance ever of record in this county.

The foundation of the abstract office required an immense amount of attention and labor, much of which was bestowed in the early stages of the enterprise by A. B. Alden and his brother-in-law, M. P. Wing, Charles Holden, Charles J. Randall, 0. C. Dibble and Ambrose Hoffman. Mr. Alden was Clerk of the Board of Supervisors when he founded the abstract office, and, his time being occupied by his official duties, it was managed successively by the individuals mentioned above. In September, 1872, he sold the business to M. T. Alverson and Thomas Yule. Both of the latter were real-estate men and very accurate, and they did much to perfect the records of the office and more thoroughly systematize its methods. During their

On the 1st of November, 1878, S. M. Smith and C. L. Bering assumed the management of the business, which they had purchased from Alverson & Yule, and to which they now devote everv requisite attention. Mr. Bering is an attorney and real-estate conveyancer of long experience, and Mr. Smith is well known as a careful, methodical man, abundantly qualified to conduct the affairs of the ofiice. Up to and including the 31st day of March, 1880, and after November 1, 1878, they recorded 3,104 transfers, which made the whole number in Columbia County 73,273 at the close of the day first mentioned.

The Columbia County Abstract Ofiice now contains eleven volumes of abstracts, so called, three index books, a volume each of abstracts of Government and State entries, one volume of powers of attorney, a volume of judgment, as liens on real estate, a volume of mechanics' liens, etc., etc.

Already there are in Columbia County parcels of realty which have changed owners from one hundred and fifty to two hundred times, and there are but very few pieces of land that have not been repeatedly sold. Suppose, now, that A wants to buy of B certain land, almost the first detail about which the former will desire information will be in reference to the title ; and it is the vendor's business to show him that his right to the property is complete, to do which he must obtain an abstract of title. As already stated, the abstract ofiice contains the history of every piece of land in Columbia County, embodying every legal detail which can in any way afiect its title. Now, for the purpose of illustrating the methods of the abstract office, suppose that, on the morning of 1st of April, 1880, Messrs. Smith & Bering, in making their daily visit to the Register of Beeds' OflBce, found that another conveyance has been recorded there. They at once make a virtual copy of the deed, and on their return to the abstract ofiice they transfer it to what they call the book of abstracts. Each conveyance in this volume is designated by a number, and in the case we have supposed the number would be 73,274. Opposite this number, they will note volume and page on which the instrument is recorded with the Register ; names of grantor and grantee ; date of the deed, date of acknowledgment ; date, hour and minute of record ; nature of the instrument ; description of the property ; consideration, etc. The next step is what is termed posting on the index-book, which is arranged for reference by description of lands, and which contains a printed description of every forty and of every city and village lot in this county, and opposite it is simply placed that number, which completes the record there so far as this transfer is concerned. Of course, all previous transfers have previously been similarly indicated by recording their numbers from the abstract-book ; so that the indexbook consists merely of descriptions of forties and lots, with the numbers indicating each conveyance set opposite them. When an abstract of title is desired, the land described is readily found by reference to the index-book, and there, opposite the description, are found numbers indicating all the transfers of that property that have ever been made. Those numbers are readily found by reference to the abstract-book, where, opposite each number, are set forth all the details of that conveyance. Thus it will be seen that an abstract may be obtained for any piece of land by simply sending a description of it, and without even mentioning the name of the present owner. Of course, the utmost care is required in these entries, and every record is subjected to a double comparison before it is relinquished as accurate. Thus far, all the information alluded to as regarding land has been obtained from the Register's office, but there are legal facts other than those which the law requires the Register to spread upon his books that may, to some extent, aflfect the right to realty. For instance, a judgment become a lien on real estate, a record of which is to be found in the Clerk of the Court's office. And there is a large amount of other information which it is essential that a perfect abstract oflBce should possess, and which is obtained from the General Land Ofiice at Washington, the State Land Ofiice, the County Treasurer's oflSce, and elsewhere. Indeed, the abstract business requires the constant exercise of vigilance and the utmost care, and is a constant source of outlay, so that the occasional expensiveness of abstracts need not surprise the applicant for it.

The Columbia County Abstract Office is located in the bank building in Portage, on the corner of Cook and Wisconsin streets, and in the rear of the office is a stone vault, absolutely fire-proof, within which is a fire-proof safe, where all the books and papers belonging to the business are nightly secured. Many of the business men of this city have availed themselves of this certain protection against fire by placing their valuable papers in the custody of Smith & Bering ; and as there is never any money deposited there, nor any papers of value except to the owners, there is nothing to excite the cupidity of burglars.

The Welsh commenced to settle in Columbia County in the summer of 1845. They were' almost without exception, from the northern part of Wales - most of them from the counties of Carnarvon, Anglesea and Denbigh - from the neighborhood of Snowdon, Moel Siabod and other glorious mountains.

Eminent writers maintain that the general aspect of nature has a decided influence on the habits, thoughts and characteristics of the human mind. They further assert that mountain scenery and air nourish poetical and musical tendencies, and encourage moral feelings.

" Rude, rugged and romantic land of e'erlasting hills, Where echo sounds terrific, 'midst cataracts and rills - Mountains of ancient glory adorned with lovely vales - Creation in its beauty, my Home, my dearest Wales," should have imaginative, religious and industrious minds. The above theory proved true in the case of the first settlers as shown in the particular attention paid to public religious worship, even before houses were secured for the families. Music was cultivated from the very first; but not until the year 1848 did the difierent settlements organize and form into a musical union.

It was then decided that the inhabitants of the different settlements in Columbia County should join in a grove about eight miles north of the present village of Cambria, to celebrate the Fourth of July in a manner worthy of the day. Music was furnished by a large and welltrained choir. E. B. Williams delivered a philosophical lecture on music. Several speeches on different subjects were made by many who were present from different settlements.

It is worthy of mention that this manner of celebrating the Fourth of July became popular and much good came out of it. Every year brought some new celebrity to the platform and more cultivation to the choir. This musical union continued to gain ground steadily for about fifteen years, when religious revivalists claimed the privilege to hold a prayer-meeting on the same day. The prayer-meeting was held but once, but that was enough to break up the musical union. Were it not for that fact, it is probable that the Fourth would have continued, to this day, to be celebrated in the same manner as of old.

Still, nothing was done to encourage and cultivate the literary tastes of the people until Dr. J. LI. Williams returned from Pennsylvania and settled in Cambria in the year 1853. He was the founder, first teacher and patron of literature among the Welsh in this part of Columbia County. He organized literary societies in every schoolhouse, aroused and held regular weekly or two-weekly meetings, which were well attended, especially by the young people. Different subjects were given for competitory compositions in prose and verse ; lectures and speeches were delivered, and music in its various forms was taught and encouraged.

In the month of April, 1856, the first grand Eistedfod was held in the old church or chapel, called Zion, on Welsh Prairie. This was well attended by musicians, poets, lecturers and other literary characters, from all parts of' the State, and was a decided success. Not only that that particular congress of bards and literati was a success in itself; but, by drawing out talents not previously known to the public, it proved that there was material enough among the Welsh population for holding such meetings in future.

The Eistedfod is an ancient institution, and was probably peculiar to the Celts. Now it is peculiar to that small branch of the Celts inhabiting Wales and their children in foreign countries. First established by the Druids, and being then of much more importance than at present - all public matters in law, religion and literature being settled in those meetings in presence of the public therein assembled - it was deemed necessary, or at least beneficial, to keep up this Bardic assembly, after the overthrow of Dru^dism by Christianity, in order to foster learning and especially poetry. For ages, each Eistedfod was held under the auspices and protection of some Welsh prince ; afterward they were under the patronage of the Barons, and, last of all, they were licensed by the English sovereigns. The last royal license was granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1.567 or 1568. Since that time, the Welsh have felt independent enough to hold an Eistedfod when and wherever they choose, without asking any one's consent.

The Welsh in Columbia County have held an Eistedfod (sometimes on rather a small scale) at home, or have joined with others to hold one in some other part of the State almost every year since 1856. Money is sometimes contributed beforehand ; sometimes the sale of tickets to the meetings is depended upon and rewards are offered for the best compositions in prose, verse and music, and sometimes for works of art. Umpires are usually chosen from a distance, to determine upon the merits of the competitors. Everything is arranged as well as can be to secure justice. Each of these occasions brings out a great number of competitors, and it does much to stimulate and encourage the youths to labor hard for excellency, and it has contributed not a little to the education of those who must educate themselves or remain uneducated.

was the son of a French father and a Winnebago mother. He was born in the year 1796, and was married in St. Louis in 1818 to Theresa Crelie, whose father, "old Crelie," was a Canadian half-breed, and whose mother was a half-breed Sac. At the date of his marriage, which event took place at Prairie du Chien, he was in the employ of the American Fur Company. Pauquette was the interpreter at the treaties with the Winnebagoes at Green Bay, in 1828 ; at Prairie du Chien, in 1825; and at Rock Island in 1832. In the year last mentioned, he was active in raising a party of Winnebagoes to unite with the Americans 'against Black Hawk. After this war, he was engaged as a trader, on the west side of the Wisconsin, at Portage. He had two children - Therese J., the eldest, was born at the portage in 1826 ; she has been twice married, and is a resident of Columbia County. Her brother, Moses Pauquette, was born in 1828, also at the portage ; and he, too, is still a resident of the county.

Pauquette was always reputed to be one of the best friends and counselors of the Winnebagoes. No man who knew him ever suspected his honesty or patriotism. In October, 1836, he was shot and killed at the portage, by an Indian.

On the 17th of October, [1836], says John de La Ronde, " Gov. Dodge came to Portage to hold a council with the Indians ; H. L. Dousman and Joseph Brisbois came also ; Peter Pauquette acted as interpreter. The result of the council was advising the Winnebagoes to sell their lands east of the Mississippi. The Indians could not agi-ee, and the matter was postponed until the next year, and a treaty for the sale of the land was abandoned, they preferring an annuity, and Peter Pauquette demanded for them twenty-one boxes of money - $21,000 - declaring that that was the amount due him from the Indians for goods and provisions advanced to them.

" Man-ze-mon-e-ka, a son of one of the chiefs of the Rock River band, residing a mile or two above the present locality of Watertown, named Wau-kon-ge-we-ka, or Whirling Thunder, or One-who-walks-on-the-iron, objected on the ground that he belonged to the Rock River band, and had received no provisions or goods from Pauquette, desiring that the money should be divided between the several bands ; then those who were indebted to Pauquette, might pay him if they chose, as for himself, or his band, they had their own debts to pay to the traders at Rock River. The result was that the council dissolved without coming to a decision.

" Pauquette crossed the Wisconsin, going to a saloon where Carpenter's house now stands, and there indulged in drinking. Man-ze-mon-e-ka, who had spoken so frankly in the council, also happened there, when Pauquette whipped him. I came there at the time, and with the help of others rescued the Indian from Pauquette. The chief retired to the other end of the portage, near where the house of Henry Merrell once stood, on Fox River ; Pauquette followed him there and whipped him again. Satterlee Clark and I took the Indian away from him again, who was by this time badly bruised. He went home, which was near where Armstrong's brickyard now is ; and Pauquette went to the old post of the American Fur Company near the grist-mill ; and while on his way home, between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning, he stopped at my place.

I was then living in the house that used to belong to Francis Le Roy, near where 0. P. Williams' bouse stood before it was burnt. I did all that I could to persuade him to stay with me that night, seeing that he was under the influence of liquor, but he would go on ; his brotherin-law, Touissant St. Huge, and AVilliam Powell (not Capt. William Powell, of Butte des Morts), from Green Lake, were with him. There were some Indians drinking at the house of Paul Grignon - the same house now used for a stable by 0. P. Williams. Among these Indians were Black Wolf and his son. Rascal De-kau-ry, the Elk, Big Thunder and others.

" When Pauquette arrived there, he whipped Black Wolf; Rascal De-kau-ry ran away north from where they were, right in the direction of the lodge of Man-ze-mon-e-ka, whom Pauquette had beaten the preceding day. On arriving at the chief's cabin, he informed him that Pauquette was coming to whip him again. Man-ze-mon-e-ka emerged from his lodge and told Pauquette very pointedly not to come any farther; that he had whipped him twice the day before without a cause, and if he advanced another step he was a dead man. Pauquette, putting his hand to his breast, said, 'Fire if you are brave,' when Man-ze-mon-e-ka shot and Pauquette fell. William Powell was close to Pauquette at the time, and as soon as I heard the report of the gun I ran for the spot as fast as I could. It was close to where I was living. I met William Powell running toward the fort, and asked him was the matter ; but he was going so fast that he did not hear me. I went where Pauquette was, took his hand, which was warm, and asked him if he knew me to press my hand ; but he was dead. The ball had passed through his heart. Old Crelie, father-in-law to Pauquette, wanted to carry him home, but I would not allow him to touch him until the jury came. William Powell arrived there with Lieut. Hooe, Sergt. Pollinger, ten private soldiers, Satterlee Clark, and, I believe, Henry Merrell. Lieut. Hooe refused to go into the lodge to take the Indian ; the chief. White French, went and brought him out, when they took him across in a scow ; the body of Pauquette being also taken over. They asked Man-ze-mon-e-ka if he shot Pauquette, which he frankly acknowledged. I really believe that he thought he was going to be killed on the spot, as he sang his death-song. He was taken to the garrison, kept in strict confinement, and afterward conveyed to Green Bay, where he was tried by regular authority, and finally acquitted, it being determined on a second trial that he had killed Pauquette in self-defense.

" Peter Pauquette was born in the y^ar 1800, of a French father and a Winnebago mother ; the latter was buried nearly in front of the Old Agency house opposite the fort. He was thirty years old when I first knew him, and was the very best specimen of a man I ever saw. He was six feet two inches in height, and weighed 240 pounds - hardly ever varying a single pound. He was a very handsome man, hospitable, generous and kind, and I think I never saw a betternatured man.

" I had heard much of his strength before I left Green Bay, and of course, was anxious to see him perform some of the wonderful feats of strength of which I had beard. From my first acquaintance with him to the day of his death I was his most intimate friend, and consequently had a better opportunity to know him than any other person. * * * jjg often told me that all persons seemed alike to him. When I was nineteen or twenty years old, my business kept me constantly in training, and though I weighed less than 150 pounds, my muscles were like iron ; notwithstanding he often said it was no more trouble to take me across his lap than a child one year old. and so it seemed to me. ******

" He was employed by the American Fur Company up to the day of his death. For the last four years of his life he had a bookkeeper, but previous to that time (not being able to read or write), he gave credit to hundreds of Indians, relying entirely on his memory, and their honesty. Those who have been acquainted with the Indian character only since their association with the whites has degraded them, will be amused to hear of the honesty of the Indians ; and I desire to do them the justice to say, that while they saw no impropriety in stealing from another and a hostile tribe, I never knew them to steal from a trader, or refuse to pay what they owed him, till whisky was introduced among them by the worst class of whites. The women were especially honest and virtuous. Their marriage amounted to the purchase of the daughter from the father, whether by an Indian or a white man ; when, as soon as the trade was made, the girl considered herself the wife of the purchaser, and accompanied him home often (when purchased by a white man who could not speak the Indian language) very reluctantly, and in tears ; still the right of the father was never resisted.

" But to continue as to Pauquette. The last of September, 1836, the War Department (then having the Indian Bureau), directed Gov. Dodge to assemble the Winnebagoes, at Fort Winnebago, and if possible treat with them for all the lands they owned east of the Mississippi; and he called to his assistance all the half-blood Winnebagoes he could get. The council lasted several weeks, during which time every possible effort was made to induce them to sell ; but there seemed to be an undercurrent somewhere to prevent it, and the Governor failed. This he attributed to the influence of Pauquette and myself, and I think we never denied it. In the Governor's next official report, he recommended that no license be granted to one Satterlee Clark to trade with the Winnebagoes, for the reason that his iniluence with the Indians was so great that he prevented them from doing what the Government desired, and caused them to do what the Government did not desire to be done ; and that he further induced them to give large sums of money out of their annuity to himself and friends. Pauquette would undoubtedly have been included with me in this report, but for his death.

" This council closed on the 17th day of October, 1836, and the next day Pauquette came to my store to rejoice over our victory. ()n this occasion, he drank too much wine, and became just enough intoxicated to be impatient of contradiction. In this condition, he started home on foot, and when within about one quarter of a mile of the ferry, opposite his house, he found an Indian and his wife sitting by a little fire in the bushes. The Indian was Man-ze-mon-e-ka, or Iron Walker, who was also drunk. What there occurred, is only known as related by the squaw that night. She said Pauquette kicked the fire apart, the Indian arose up and said something that offended Pauquette, who slapped the Indian's face, knocking him down. The Indian got up, saying, ' You knocked me down ; but I got up. I will knock you down, and you will never get up. I will go for my gun.' Pauquette only laughed and sat down. The Indian returned, when Pauquette stood up, pulled open his coat, placed his hand on his breast and said, ' Strike, and see a brave man die.' The Indian fired, killing him instantly, the ball severing one of the main arteries leading from the heart. No man in Wisconsin could have died who was so much regretted. His death can safely be attributed to intoxication, though it was the first time I ever knew or heard of his being in that condition.*

"Man-ze-mon-e-ka was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung; but the judgment was reversed by the ^preme Court, and he never was punished. He is long since dead.

" There has been some doubt as to where Mr. Pauquette was buried, and I will state what I know of his burial. In the first instance, while he did not claim to belong to any religious denomination, his wife being a Catholic, he built a small church near the center of what is now Portage City. At his death, I assisted to bury his remains under the floor of this church. Subsequently the church was burned ; and still later, while I was living at Green Lake, I received a summons to come up and point out the grave, some of his friends being desirous to remove his body. I came up and found the locality without any difficulty ; but never heard whether he was removed, or, if so, where. At that time Portage City had been surveyed,, and his grave was in the middle of a street.''

* The Galena Adverlieer, of Saturday, October 22, 1836, thus referred to Pauquette's death : After mentioning that Gov. Dodge had failed in hia negotiation with the Winnebago Indians for a further ceasion of their lands to the United States, stated : " On Monday eveninglast [October 17], Mr. Pauquette, long and favorably known as an Indian trader and interpreter, was shot by a son of Whirling Thunder, a prominent chief of the tribe." The Belmont Gazette gives the following account of Pauquette's death from an eye witness : "Some of the Indians, instigated, it was said, by a family of half-breeds, named Grignon, propagated a report that Pauquette had acted treacherously in his capacity of interpreter. Indignant athaving his correctness questioned, he pursued several of the Grignon family, all of whom fled before him, until he was some considerable distance from the place where the treaty was being held. While returning from the fruitless pursuit, his murderer emerged from a copse of wood, and ordering him to Btand,^avowed bis intention of shouting him. Pauquette deliberately bared his bnsom, and remarking that he feared not to die, bade him fire. The ball ot the Indian passed through his heart, and he almost instantly expired. The author of the deed, with stoical indifl'erence, expressed a perfect willingness to expiate his olfense with his own life. Mr. Pauquette, we are informed, was a man of noble and generous qualities, and had scarcely an enemy in the world. He wa.s in our service during the Black Hawk war, and distinguished himself by hi.s cool and collected courage in every emergency."

Col. Ebenezer Childs, in a letter to hia wife written at Belmont, November 1,1836, speaking of his journey there, states : "At Pauquette's farm, I got the news of poor Pauquette's death, and waa never more astonished in my life." - Ed.

" Peter Pauquette lived opposite Fort AVinnebago, on what was called the Agency Hill. I considered him the best specimen of Nature's noblemen I ever met. He was born, I think, in Missouri, and engaged in the Indian trade at an early day. When I knew him he was six feet two inches in height, large and fleshy, but his flesh was hard, and felt more like my kneepan than common flesh. I once took my handerchief and measured round his thigh, and it just reached around my waist. He was the strongest man I ever knew ; he would pick up a barrel of pork and throw it into a wagon as easily as a man would a ten-gallon keg. I had a cask of dry white lead at my door, with 800 pounds of lead in it, and I was told by my clerk that he took it by the chimes, and lifted it off the ground. *****

He was of a mild disposition, could neither read nor write ; but had as fine a sense of honor as any gentleman I ever knew ; and all who knew him would take his word as soon as any man's bond.

" He and a companion (as he told me) were trading among some Indians in the Northwest until some others, the Flat Heads, took them prisoners, and determined to burn them ; they tied them each to a tree with their arms around it, then piled brush and wood around them, and set fire to the pile around his companion. He thought his time had come; but witnessing the excruciating sufferings of his fellow, he gave one superhuman pull at his thongs, and felt them give way. As he did so, an old squaw, the only one near him, caught him by the arm and gave a scream. He tried to shake her ofl", but could not; so he caught her hatchet and embedded it in her head, which loosened her hold, and he jumped and ran, the Indians at his heels after him ; but he could outrun almost any man, and outstripped them. Night coming on, he secreted himself, and finally got to a trading-post, after three days. He finally settled at Portage in the Indian trade ; and at the time I knew him, he had such influence over the chiefs of the Winnebagoes, that he was considered at the head of the nation. He could talk the Winnebago, French and English languages fluently, and was the only good Winnebago interpreter in the country. He was with Col. Dodge in the Sauk war, and the Colonel would always call for him to interpret when he held councils with the Winnebagoes. He used to trust the Indians, from year to year, I am informed, without any books, carrying their accounts in his head ; and when they would come in with their furs, he would tell them what they owed him, and they were invariably satisfied. When I arrived, he was trading for the American Fur Company, they furnishing him with goods and a book-keeper, he in the spring turning over to them his furs, they fi.xing the prices of his goods and furs. Thus they of course had it all their own way. John T. De La Ronde was his clerk when I came, but he finally discharged him.

" In the fall of 1836, Gov. Dodge came to t\\e fort, and had the Indians called in to meet him, and receive their payment. The chiefs met him in council, with Pauquette as interpreter. The Governor proposed to make a treaty with them, and buy their country between the Wisconsin and Mississippi. After they had counseled for some days, tliey refused to sell their country. It was generally supposed, as Pauquette advised them, they would act; therefore, the story was raised that Pauquette had advised them not to sell, and that he had not interpreted truly, which came to the ears of Pauquette, and he said it was untrue. He told me the chiefs asked his advice, but he told them he could not advise them, for he did not know anything about the country the Government wanted them to go to ; and therefore, they must make up their own minds about it.

" The traders and half-breeds, all the way from Prairie du Chien and Green Bay, were assembled here; and it was supposed that many of them, if not most of them, wanted the Indians to form a treaty, so they could get money by it. As it was thought that Pauquette had as much influence with the nation as a king, he was courted as well as feared by all ; therefore every man of them wanted to court his favor, and would treat him, and urge him to drink. The consequence was, that after getting through interpreting, and settling up with Gov. Dodge, which was the latter part of the third day, he drank too much - the first time I ever saw him under the influence of liquor. I had a long talk with him .in the afternoon, when he told me he was satisfied the agents of the fur company had cheated him, and he should settle off with them as soon as the payment was over, which was to take place the next day, if he could get any one to furnish him. I told him I would furnish him all the goods he wanted. 'Will you?' said he. 'If I had known that, I would have proposed it long ago.' I told him that no one supposed that he could be induced to leave the fur company. He then appeared to be perfectly himself

" After tea, Satterlee Clark and I went down to the sutler's store ; met there Pauquette, and Messrs. Powell and Gleason. We stood in the yard in front of the store, talking for some time. Pauquette said some of the traders had been lying about him, and he would lick some of them before they left the ground. As he felt so aggrieved, and dwelt so much upon it, I feared he would get into a quarrel with them. While we were talking, Paul Grignon rode up on horseback, and Pauquette caught hold of him and pulled him off of his horse, playfully ; and, laughing, commenced talking to him, but we, not understanding the language, did not know what was said. Finally, I saw he became enraged, having hold of the man's cravat, a black silk one, tied loosely around his neck, with his left hand, and flourishing his right, as though he would strike him. I said to the men, ' Don't let him hurt Grignon,' and remarked to Pauquette, ' Don't hurt him, for he is no more than a child in your hands.' Three men, all strong ones, caught hold of his right arm, but he would sway them backward and forward as though they were children ; but as long as they held on to his arm he could not strike him ; I, in the mean time, trying to unfasten his grip, but, finding I could not, as his grasp seemed like a vise, I took out my knife and cut the cravat in two, jerking Grignon away at the same time, and telling him to clear out, as Pauquette was crazy, and would kill him. He then readily jumped upon his horse and rode off. Pauquette seemed to give up, and did not try to stop him, but said he would whip some of them yet. He stayed and talked with us for a time.

" There were (juite a number of the Grignons at the portage from Green Bay and the country, and Pauquette said it was some of them who had lied about him. By this time, it was getting dark, and he started to go over to the Agency Hill, as it was called, about half a mile opposite the fort, where the traders and half-breeds were encamped, some in tents and some in wigwams. I said to Satterlee Clark, he had better go and see that he did not get into a fight, for if he did he would kill some one, or would get killed himself He started, but Pauquette told him to go back as he did not want to get any of his friends into a scrape, so Clark turned back, and I asked him if he was not going, when he said no. I then said to Mr. Gleason, ' We must go.' 'Agreed,' said he, and we followed him over. I told Gleason we would keep out of his sight, but watch him, which we did. Pauquette went into a wigwam, and chatted a few minutes, and then went into Judge Law's tent, and talked with him a short time. After coming out, he met Amable Grignon, who had on a plaid cloak, hooked at the neck. He commenced talking with him, but soon got into a rage, as he had before, and insisted upon fighting him, pulling off his coat. Several went up and tried to appease him, but could not. Louis Grignon finally came up, and I supposed he would quiet him, as I had reason to believe Pauquette thought a great deal of him, as he always called him Father Grignon ; but he would not listen to him.

" Then I thought I would try and see what I could do ; so I took his coat and went up to him, saying, - Pauquette, what are you doing out here, a sick man, in the night air, without his coat on ?' 'I ain't sick,' he replied. ' Well, you will be, if you expose yourself in this way ; put on your coat, and go with me over to the shanty ; there is no use quarreling, for we are all friends here.' ' Well, I will, if you say so,' said he. He then put on his coat, and went over with us to the sutler's store, to my astonishment, for I never supposed I had so much influence over him as the circumstance indicated. This night he stayed with us (there being several ofiicers in), conversing with us until 11 o'clock. Ever and anon he would speak about the reports about him, and the lies told, so that I saw it was the one thing uppermost in his mind. He said he would not tell a lie for any man, not even his father, and they should not lie about' him. All at once, he started out of the door, and down across the bridge, Gleason and I after him. When Gleason got on the bridge, he called to him, when Pauquette stopped and asked what he wanted. ' Merrell wants you,' said Gleason. ' What does he want ?' said Pauquette.

" Just then I came up, and said to him, ' Pauquette, there is no use of your going over there; you will only get into a scrape if you do ; but go over home; Gleason, Powell and Touissant will go home with you and stay to-night.' ' Well, agreed,' he replied, ' if you say so.' They all started, and went over toward the Wisconsin River, across which he lived, and Satterlee Clark and I went to bed, thinking he was safe, but, about 12 or 1 o'clock, Mr. Powell rapped at our window, and said Pauquette was killed by an Indian. We sent word to the officers, and a number of us mounted our horses - -Lieut. Hooe taking a file of soldiers - and went over and found, sure enough, he lay dead in the bushes, near where the Catholic Church now stands. We took the body and carried it over to his house, he having a ferry-boat for his own use.

" I, being a Justice of the Peace, commenced taking the testimony, when an Indian came in, and said the Indian who shot Pauquette was in a wigwam across the river, and if the soldiers would go he would show them where he was. So Lieut. Hooe went with his men, but, before reaching the wigwam, the Indians proposed going in and pinioning him, as he was armed, which they did, and delivered him up to Lieut. Hooe, who said the Indians wanted he should let them kill him on the spot, but he would not let them, and brought him over to the house. The Indian proved to be Man-ze-mon-e-ka, son of the chief Whirling Thunder, who, according to his mother's statement, came up from the mines determined to kill Pauquette.

" William Powell, from Green Lake, who was with Pauquette when he was shot down, testified that on their way they stopped at Mr. Gleason's house, a short distance from where we found the body, and Pauquette went out. That he, Powell, went to look for him, and found him sitting, talking with an Indian by a small fire ; and seeing he was without his coat, he went to the house and got it, and helped him on with it, and started for the ferry. Soon they met the Indian with his gun on his shoulder, and passed him, who immediately turned and said, " Pauquette, is that you ? ' Pauquette turned and said, ' Yes - what do you want ? ' The Indian asked ' Are you a man ? ' ' Yes,' was his reply, striking his breast with his hands, ' and a good man, too.' The Indian leveled his gun, and shot, the ball passing through the left lung ; and Powell further related, that he was so near the Indian that he caught hold of the gun, but it went ofi" at that instant. Powell ran to the house, and called the men out, thinking the Indian would fall on him. When they got to Pauquette, he was just breathing his last. The Indian said Pauquette stuck him over the head with a brand from the fire ; but there was no mark on his head, and his mother's statement, who witnessed it, was thought to be the correct one.

" I committed Man-ze-mon-e-ka, and requested the commanding officer at the fort to keep him until the Sheriflf from Green Bay could come up and take him to jail, which was done, and he was taken to Green Bay, tried, and sentenced to be hanged. The Sheriff" made all preparations to hang him. but, on the day he was to be executed, there came an order to the Sheriff" to stay proceedings, that a new trial would be granted ; so he was not hanged on that day, and then it was found out he could not be tried a second time, and so was released ; but he never dared let himself be seen in the nation again, as many Indians were determined to kill him if they could find him, for they felt - and there was no doubt in the minds of any one - that they had lost the best friend they ever had.* Pauquette was always called upon to divide the provisions and goods, furnished them by the Government, among the several bands, of which there were si.\ or eight, which was done in this way : The heads of families of each band were seated on the ground in a large circle, and Pauquette would go into the center of the ring, and deal out to each the proportion according to the size of the families, of flour, pork, salt, tobacco, etc. Here was one cause of jealousy. Then he trusted the Indians, receiving their furs when they came in; and, of course, those who were the best hunters, got the greatest credits - and this was another camSe of jealousy.

- In Schoolcrafta *' History and Condition of the Indian Tribes," Vol. iii, page 281, is thiecorroborative testimony of Pau.juette's good character: " One of the worst acts, and which stains thi-ir cliaracter liy iti atrocity, was the assassination of Peter Pauquette, the interpreter at the agency, on the Wisconsin Portage. He was a man of Winnebago lineage, and was reputed to be one of the best friends and counselors of the nation."

" In the preceding summer of 1836, the chiefs came in, and requested the commanding officer, who was acting as Indian agent, by order of the War Department, to pay Pauquette when their payment was made, for goods and provisions, to be furnished the nation, as they were in a starving condition; and the commandant agreed to pay him at their request $22,000, which would have been his the next day had he lived ; but, after his death, they refused and forbade it being paid to the agent of the American Fur Company. Whirling Thunder had fallen into disgrace with the other chiefs, as he did not live in the country with the nation, but lived in the mines, pitching his wigwam near the dwelling of a man by the name of Doherty, who had taken Thunder's daughter for his wife; and as Pauquette, Doherty thought, stood in his way of influence with the nation, as well as trade, it was believed he felt it for his interest to prejudice the chief and his son against Pauquette, and the son got so wrought up that he determined to make way with him.

" At one time, Doherty came to the fort, and tried to get the chiefs to sign an agreement to give his wife and children each a section of land, when they made a treaty, and Pauquette laughed at it, as he knew the Government had decided not to give any more lands to the halfbreeds, but would give money instead ; but Doherty would not believe it. In this way, probably, the feeling against Pauquette was kept up. Man-ze-mon-e-ka said Pauquette did not give them their share of goods and provisions, and would not trust them as he did other Indians.

" I have dwelt upon this the longer as many stories were raised in regard to the cause of the Indians being incited to the deed. One was, that Pauquette had whipped him once or twice, which was the cause; but there was no evidence of it, and no one who knew all the facts believed it for a moment.

" Some years after, Capt. Thompson was out with a party of soldiers gathering up the Indians to remove them west of the Mississippi, and came across a young Indian whom he induced to guide him to Man-ze-mon-e-ka's camp, and he surrounded his wigwam before the Indian knew it. The Captain said he found him on an island in Winnebago swamp - since Lake Horicon - and never could have discovered his retreat but for his guide. Man-ze-mon-e-ka was taken to Prairie du Chien, from which he soon disappeared, and no one knew what became of him. Capt. Thompson said that Man-ze-mon-e-ka, after taking him, said that he was never happy after killing Pauquette, as he dare not venture himself among his nation, and had to secrete himself. He probably lived the rest of his life away from his people.

" Pauquette had purchased a number of sections of land from half-breeds, besides three sections which were given him by the Indians under their treaties, so that, at his death, he had twelve or sixteen sections of land, a large number of cattle and horses, together with a fine store of Indian goods and other personal property.

" The agent of the fur company took possession of the goods, and sold them for the benefit of the company, giving, as he said, Pauquette credit for them.

" In 1838, the company i-eceived the $22,000 which the Indians owed Pauquette at his death. The lands were disposed of by the administrator, and all this property disappeared without the heirs receiving a cent of it, and some outside debts were never paid. Had he lived, I have no doubt he would have been very wealthy. He had put up a log building for a Catholic church, which was not finished, and his remains were deposited under it. The building was afterward burned down. The lot belonged to Benjamin L. Webb, of Detroit, who reserved it from sale, for he (the owner) esteemed Pauquette so highly that he intended erecting a monument to his memory. Webb was tlie proprietor of Portage, platted as Fort Winnebago, originally a French grant of 640 acres, granted to a Frenchman named Lecuyer. I being Webbs agent, the Catholic priest applied' to me for the lot, but I could not let him have it. He then got the consent of the family, which Mr. Webb required, and the lot was deeded to the church, stipulating that they should take care of the grave. Another church was built near the spot, which was afterward turned into a Catholic schoolhouse.

" At one time, Pauquette proposed, when the old men of the Winnebago Nation were in, that he would get them together and inform me, so as to have them give their history, and I take it down ; but, to my regret, the opportunity never occurred, as he was too soon cut oflf. He told me the nation was divided into two sects - one believing the Great Spirit was a large animal, describing the mammoth, and they took their tribal names from animals, such as the bear, the elk, the wolf, beaver, fox, etc., etc., and carved the likeness of some animal upon their war-clubs, guns, and other things ; the other believed him to be a great bird, and took their names from thunder and birds, such as the eagle, the hawk, the crow, etc., etc., and always marked upon their articles the likeness of some bird.

" There was an old Indian and his squaw, who lived in their wigwam close by Pauquette's house - whether any relation or not I never knew ; but Pauquette was very kind to them, and supplied them with provisions. We at the fort called him Pony Blau or Blaw. One day, he and wife had been over to some whisky shanty, and came across the portage singing, hand in hand ; and when they got near the bridge leading to the fort, one says to the other, ' Let's go and see the Great Spirit ' - believing him to be in a cave under Fo.x River. ' Agreed,' said the other; so they walked off into the river. Pauquette happened along just then and pulled them out, else they would have drowned.

" I was told that, in the Sauk war, there was a company of rangers, I believe from Illinois, who encamped on the bank of the Wisconsin, and Paucjuette was walking around, looking at them, when a large man kicked a little dog following Pauquette. The latter said to the soldier, 'Don't kick that dog, he is mine.' The man replied, 'I'll kick you if you say much. Who are you? ' 'My name is Pauquette,' was the response. 'Ah,' said the ranger, 'you are the very fellow I want to see. I have heard of you, and came up here on purpose to lick you.' Thereupon he pitched at Pauquette, who struck the man but once, peeling the skin from his cheek and knocking him down. Then he caught the man by the throat, raising him to his feet, and, shaking him like an aspen leaf, asked him if he called himself a man. ' I was a man where I came from,' was the reply, ' but I see I ain't here.' Thus it ended. The soldier concluded he would not whip Pauquette."

Elbert Dickason

When Milwaukee was but a straggling village, with most of her populous and busy streets and splendid architecture scarcely disturbed by the pale-face, and when East Water street, the great thoroughfare of Wisconsin, was yet a swamp, with the wild rice on its surface instead of Nicholson pavement, a certain New York capitalist named Nelson, we are told, sent the elder James Luddington to the Territory of Wisconsin, then the Far West, to secure land at low rates. He came to Milwaukee, and, as it is stated, meeting with Maj. Dickason, induced him to come to what is now Columbus, and assisted him with means to secure a large amount of land, Maj. Dickason may be regarded as the founder of Columbus.

He was a Virginian by birth, and removed to Ohio and subsequently to Illinois. When he came to this county, he was somewhat advanced in middle life, and is described as a tall spare man with light hair, which he always wore long upon his shoulder. He is represented as a very brave man and extremely generous. He served during the whole of the memorable Black Hawk war, and it was from that fact that he gained his designation as Major, and most of his knowledge of this Western country.

He erected the first habitation ever built by a white man in Columbus. It was a log cabin and stood upon the Crawfish, just beyond the site of the present depot. The Major brought with him, as previously reported, sixty or seventy head of cattle, upward of twenty horses and four or five wagons, and took possession of a considerable amount of land, which he had purchased of Luddington and another on time. The Major seemed to have a Daniel Boone idea of retaining sufficient hunting ground for himself. He believed that the wooded ground between Mud Lake and Lost Lake would never be settled, and that prairie lands alone would be ample for all the demands of agriculture. But it is also reported that, shortly after he he arrived here, he staked out twelve lots near his cabin for village purposes and called them Columbus, the embryo of a beautiful and prosperous village. The first ground broken by the plow extended beyond the hill upon which are now situated the residences of James T. Lewis and William L. Lewis and that of A. G. Cook. Here the Major stacked his first harvest of wheat, and here the stealthy savage applied the torch to his stacks and burned them. He also erected on the spot now occupied by the grist-mill in Columbus a saw-mill, and built near it a blacksmith-shop.

The Major was of a hospitable and free-hearted nature. Even in the months succeeding the period we have mentioned, when blazed trees were the only milestones and guides to the adventurer on this frontier, the wave of civilization was flowing rapidly westward into the interior of this Territory, and not a few men exploring these wilds in search of future homes, and whoever stopped with the Major departed without charge. He was not by nature intended for a farmer, and was not successful. Unable to meet his liabilities, he gave up his claim of 1,300 acres, now partially occupied by the city of Columbus, to Luddington, receiving a small sum for what he had done. With a team or two, he removed to Wyocena, where he remained until his death.

His cabin remained standing in Columbus for some time, and was afterward occupied by some of " the first families." A story is told about a hurricane which passed over the village and partially unroofed this cabin ; the cellar underneath it was merely a hole in the ground, but the family, terrified by the blackness of the air and the fury of the tornado, sought refuge in it and closed the door in the floor after them ; the deluge poure I through the rent roof in torrents and passed into the cellar, until the inmates, to prevent being submerged, were compelled, before the storm was fairly abated, to seek refuge at their next neighbor's.

" After considerable consideration, Lewis Luddington and myself," says Mr. Hustis, "were induced to purchase for Maj. Dickason about seventeen hundred acres of land on and about the site of Columbus, in the month of February, 1839, each of us taking about one-half of that amount of land in our mutual arrangements about the several tracts. Mr. Luddington took the water power, and I, the cultivated land. It so happened at the sale of the Milwaukee land district, I became the first purchaser of land sold, by bidding-in part of Section 12, near Columbus,* and closed the sale by purchasing a tract on Section 28, near Racine. These tracts, near and including Columbus, were at once contracted to Dickason on a four-years credit, and Mr. Luddington aided him in building a saw-mill, and afterward in constructing for him a grist-mill. Dickason was in occupancy of the property for a period extending over the four years without paying either of us a cent of principal or interest, or any of the taxes levied thereon. We found that we had considerable of an elephant on our hands. Finally, Luddington gave Dickason some $600 in cash and the income of the mill for one year, it having been leased to Col. Drake. With these means, Dickason made a purchase of what was afterward Wyocena."

"Not a few of our old residents," says a Columbus writer, " remember Maj. Dickason, and are familiar with many incidents concerning him. He was the pioneer of Columbus, and among the very first white men who wandered over these prairies and through these groves. The little log cabin he built upon the banks of the Crawfish River, where the railroad depot now stands, in the dawn of settlement here, remained until a few years ago. The old borderer is buried at Wyocena. His grave is in a weedy, straggling cemetery encircled by Duck Creek, which here widens into quite a river, and shores as blue and gold of a cold, clear morning as some more pretentious waters, but the surroundings are desolate even in the brightest morning. Sandy slopes dotted with brown brush, wide-spreading marshes to the eastward, and a low line of dark woods, form the outline. Wyocena is within full view. The old Major's grave has a respectable slab, bearing the inscription : ' Maj. Elbert Dickason, died August 9, 1848, aged 48 years 9 months and 9 days.'"

La Fayette Hill

La Fayette Hill was the son of John and Cynthia Hill, and was born in Burlington, Vt., August 28, 1812. He received a common-school education, such as was afforded by the times

* The entrj' here spoki'ii of was made on the 18th of February, and on the same day Lews Luddington also entered a portion < f Section 12. Mr. Luddington entered, at the same time, the half of Sections 13 and 24. - Ed.

in which he lived. Just before completing his majority, he removed to Rochester, N. Y. Here he made the acquaintance of Elizabetli French, daughter of Amos H. French, and was united with her in marriage February 18, 1835. In the fall of that year, the young couple removed to Chicago, 111., but the outlook not being sufficiently encouraging, in the fall of 1836, he moved to Milwaukee, Wis., where he remained until August, 1837, and on the 21st day of that month he landed in Columbia County, and in the newly platted village of " Kentucky City," now Dekorra, he erected a public house, which he kept for eleven years. " Kentucky City," at this time, aspired to be the State capital, and its founders, Thompson, Trimble & Morton, were making every effort to that end. In the fall of 1846, without solicitation on his part, he received the nomination for member of the Constitutional Convention, and was elected without opposition. He was elected several times member of the Town Board of Supervisors, Justice of the Peace, and member of the County Board of Supervisors. He was also, at different times, solicited to use his name for the office of Sheriff, but, having no special love for political life, and his private business being such as to require his personal supervision, he invariably declined. In 1848, Mr. Hill purchased the northeast quarter of Section 9, in the town of Dekorra, and here laid out the village of Oshaukuta. He also erected here the first hotel in the village, and " Hill's Tavern " was soon known far and wide. This attempt to found here a village was unsuccessful. La Fayette Hill was a man universally esteemed. His kindness of heart was proverbial. In the family circle, not a harsh word was ever spoken by him ; he was kind in the extreme. It mattered not under what circumstances a favor was asked by a member of the family, he was ever ready and willing to accede to it if in his power. On the 7th day of July, 1853, he was called to his rest, after a lingering illness of six months, leaving his loved companion to mourn his loss.

John A. Brown

was born in Canandaigua, N. Y., on the 10th of November, 1812, and was emphatically a selfmade man. He enjoyed only the ordinary advantages of a common-school education, in what w^as then a backwoods country. He graduated where so many of the ablest, most successful and distinguished men of our country have graduated - in the printing office. His trade was learned in that good old school of good practical printers - Batavia - working in David Miller's office while Miller was publishing Morgan's famous book on Freemasonry, and [when the office and all hands were threatened with violence from an excited community. In the intervals of an industrious application as an apprentice to an old established printer, he made himself acquainted with the classic literature of our own tongue, and paid some attention to Latin and mathematics. In those studious nights of boyiiood, he stored his mind with choice selections of English poetry and prose, which his retentive memory enjoyed to the last. At the age of nineteen, he assumed the editorship of the Hartford (Conn.) IntelUgencvr. Here he was brought into contact with some of the leading minds of American literature at that time, and formed friendships which lasted through life. Some time was thus spent in a round of genial duties, when, in 1833, the love of adventure drove him to sea. For some two or three years at least, he was well acquainted with the changing moods of the great deep in all latitudes and longtitudes, and once was among the very few saved from a wreck of the ship of which he was second officer, on the coast of South America.

He returned to his own country shortly after this occurrence, and taking to his old employment, removed to then Territory of Michigan, in 1837, joining his brother Beriah at Tecumseh, where they published the Democrat, until, in February, 1838, he joined C. C. Britt, at Niles. Here he remained as a partner in the publication of the Xiles Intdligencer until 1 841, when he removed to Galena, 111., where he published a paper several months. This enterprise was unsuccessful, and he went to Rockford, where he published the Rockford Pilot until the fall of 1842, when he removed to Chicago and took charge of the Daily Democrat of that city - its proprietor having been nominated for Congress. In 1843, he came to Wisconsin, taking up his residence in Milwaukee, and publishing until 1847 the Milwaukee Courier, afterward the Dailt/ Wiscotmn.

He then went to Washington County, and there established a Democratic paper at Port Washington, which he subsequently published at Grafton. Thence he removed to Janesville, where he published the Badger State, which he published until his removal to Madison, where he was engaged with his brother on the Madison Democrat, afterward the Daily Argus and Democrat. In 1853, he came to Portage, a point which he had kept a long time in view, and where he had determined to make a permanent home. He began his work there with the ardor and energy of youth, purchasing the River Times newspaper, the name of which he changed to that which had become a favorite, and which he had come to regard as his own - the Badger State. Continuing its publication in connection with Mr. Britt, his political friends forced upon him, in 1856, the oiEce of Postmaster, to which he was again appointed just previous to his death by President Buchanan, and confirmed by the Senate of the United States. He died in Madison February 10, 1859, and was buried in Portage on the 12th, after appropriate and impressive funeral services. Thus, at the age of forty-six, closed the career of a brave, true man, of refined and generous sentiments^the exemplary citizen, the chivalrous champion of the innocent and oppressed, who rebuked vice, detested meanness, and, hating with a cordial hatred all falsehood, all dishonesty, and all trickery, worked faithfully to fulfill the law of truth and love.